Tag Archives: Title IX

MG/YA – Hoops

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Tavares, Matt. Hoops. Candlewick Press. 2023. 978-1-5362-3195-3. 224 pp. $12.99. Grades 4+.

It’s 1970 in Wilkins, Indiana, and Judi Wilson longs to play basketball instead of cheering from the bleachers. Five years later, she’s a cheerleading senior in high school when she hears an announcement that Wilkins Regional High School is going to have a girls’ basketball team! With only eight girls going out for the team, everyone makes the cut. However, the girls don’t have real uniforms, buses to away games, meal money, or equal access to the high school gym. Judi and her teammates present their demands to the Athletic Director, but they face an uphill battle. With some grassroots publicity and the dedicated support of Coach Montez (plus electrical tape for putting numbers on their t-shirts), the “Lady Bears” make it all the way to Indiana’s first-ever girls’ basketball state championship! Do they have what it takes to bring home the trophy? Hoops was inspired by the true story of the 1976 Warsaw High School girls’ basketball team (read the Author’s Note for more details). Matt Tavares’ gentle, retro color palette of brick red, olive green, and turquoise (and orange basketballs, of course!) perfectly situates this story in a particular time and place: Indiana in 1976. It’s full-to-bursting with heart and exciting moments on the court. 

THOUGHTS: Hoops is a stand-out all-ages read with connections to Women’s History Month, March Madness, Title IX, and more!

Graphic Novel    

Elem. – Fall Down Seven Times. Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX

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Bryant, Jen. Fall Down Seven Times. Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX. Quill Tree Books, 2022. 978-0-062-95722-1. $17.99. 48 p. Grades K-4.

Patsy Takemoto was born in the Territory of Hawaii in 1927. Her Japanese-American family taught her about the customs of her heritage. “Fall down seven times, stand up eight” is a traditional Japanese saying. Patsy understood the importance of persevering from a young age. Always eager to learn, Patsy graduated at the top of her high school class and hoped to become a doctor. She attended college at the University of Nebraska, and was shocked to find that although she was born in the United States, she was housed in the dormitory for international students along with other students of color. Patsy advocated for integrated housing and was successful in convincing the University to make a change. Upon graduation Patsy applied to medical schools, but was rejected because she was a woman. The University of Chicago accepted her into their Law School. Patsy graduated and became a lawyer.  After marrying and starting a family of her own, Patsy returned to Hawaii and began her career in politics, eventually being elected to the US Senate. Here she co-sponsored Title IX legislation, which gives equal access to federal funded education for women and men throughout the United States. This book is illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura.

THOUGHTS: Patsy Takemoto is an often overlooked American hero. Young audiences may not realize that women have not always been allowed to receive an education. This is an important story that is told in easy to understand language for younger students. The picture book format would work well as a read aloud for secondary students studying the history of our country and women’s rights. The themes of persevering and working hard for equality are prevalent throughout the story.

Picture Book Biography    Anne McKernan, Council Rock SD

MG – Being LGBTQ in America (Series NF)

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Being LGBTQ  in America. Abdo Publishing, 2020. $25.95 ea. $155.70, set of 6. 112 pp. Grades 6-8.

Harris, Duchess, J.D., Ph.D. with Rebecca Rowell. Growing Up LGBTQ.  978-1-532-11904-0.
Harris, Duchess, JD, PhD. with Kristin Marciniak. Being Transgender in America. 978-1-532-11903-3.
Harris, Duchess, JD, Ph.D. with Kristin Marciniak. LGBTQ Discrimination in America.978-1-532-11905-7.
Harris, Duchess, JD, Ph.D. with Martha Lundin. LGBTQ Rights and the Law.   978-1-532-11906-4.
Harris, Duchess, JD, Ph.D. with Jill C. Wheeler. LGBTQ Service in the Armed Forces.  978-1-532-11907-1.
Harris, Duchess, JD, Ph.D. with Martha Lundin. LGBTQ Social Movements in America.  978-1-532-11908-8.

This well-researched series provides an easily understandable, comprehensive exposition of the LGBTQ community, its difficulties, and its successes. In Growing Up LGBTQ, by Dr. Duchess Harris with Rebecca Rowell, the authors focus on LGBTQ teens navigating their gender identity with compelling language and plentiful real-life explanations. The book acts as a primer with each chapter covering a different issue facing LBGTQ and ending with brief list of discussion questions. An interesting topic is a description of stores that engage in “gendering materials,” separation of traditional boy and girl products like clothing and toy and heightened prices for “girl” toys. The authors list the various ways LBGTQ* teens suffer from discrimination in the health care field, among law enforcement, in the homeless community, and in prisons. This particular book reinforces the need for LBGTQ teens to feel the support of family and school in order to find their voices. It concludes with with a discussion of the protests and the consequences around Title IX, its advances and its demise under the Trump-deVose administration. Complementary photographs and informative textboxes interspersed touch on topics like microaggressions, same-sex marriage, and more. Though the slim volume doesn’t go in-depth on any topic, it does give a lively, simple overview of being a LGBTQ teen. Includes a glossary, suggested resources, and an index.

THOUGHTS: Middle-school students as well as reluctant high school readers doing research papers or projects will make good use of these short, information-packed books. They also will benefit gender-curious youth because the authors don’t seem to have missed any issue. Being LGBTQ+ and a person of color and asexuality are also briefly addressed. I wonder if the title will be revised to read LGBTQ+.

306.76 Social Sciences          Bernadette Cooke, School District of Philadelphia